Bernadette Essay, Research Paper
Fear, it has a way of controlling everything that it comes in contact
with. As young children we are introduced to this intimidating desire
with intrigue and suspicion. As we age, the thoughts of fears become
more like realities, ideas of loneliness and death enter the picture as
comprehensible thoughts and views of the future. These issues make
up the foundation of the Mavis Gallant story “Bernadette”. In this story
we are presented with the image of a young French Canadian girl, who
finds herself pregnant and without a husband. The context of the story
explores the relationships between the members of the household in a
fear associated manner. The relationship between the Knights and
Bernadette is the base of the story. These three people relate to each
other in an intimidating fashion and this is what makes Bernadette?s
predicament so difficult to overcome. As well, the family ties between
Nora and Robbie are explored. Their family relationship is one based on
dependence, and without this one factor the connection between the two
results in fearfulness of being alone. Fear has a way of attacking our
judgment and this is what makes associations between people an
apprehensive and hard act.
The story is set in Quebec during the 1940-1950, when what you
were was the definition of who you were. As the story opens we are
presented with the main character Bernadette, who is concluding that
she is one hundred and twenty-six days pregnant. At this time in history
it was quit common for young rural girls to bare children at a young
age. However, Bernadette is a single French Canadian girl who is
working and living in a urban community, where things like that do not
take place. We are here introduced to the first fear presented in the
story: –How will Bernadette tell the Knights that she is pregnant? —
The answer to the question is what haunts her, and the reaction of the
Knights is the anxiety that builds up inside of her. These intimidating
fears places Bernadette in a compromising situation, she is in a position
of abandonment by her family and the shame she thinks she has
brought on to the Knights. These fears have forced her to react in
an unusual fashion. Bernadette is so fearful of what they might think
that she tries to hide herself in her work so that she is not placed in the
position where she will have to interact with the Knights.
The fear of failure and disappointment took control over her mind.
When around the Knights she worked as a robot in order not to arouse
ideas of her current condition. Her nervous fears brought her to the
point of giving in to their expectations and allowing herself to lie to them
about the books she read and the men she saw. Her images of her dead
siblings as angels would comfort her fears at time, but would also bring
up new ones. She would wonder about her child and the life that was
waiting for it; would it live a life like hers or would it pray for her in the
heavens.
The Knights were a couple that were brought together by
convenience and fears. Nora was concord by the fear of not being in
control, she had to be the one person everyone depended on in time of
need. From her positions on committees to the forgiving attitude she
showed Robbie about his many affairs, Nora always had the upper hand
in any given situation. The affairs that Robbie had, showed Nora that he
wasn?t as dependent on her as she wanted him to be, that is why she
would treat the problem as a solvable condition, in order to keep Robbie
under her control. We are told about Robbie?s dreams of being a
playwright and fears of failure and the poverty that might follow. These
fears were reinforced by Nora; her fears of failure, allowed herself to place
her children into private boarding school, so that would not have to
suffer the thoughts of bringing up her children wrong.
All the fears that controlled their lives affirmed their ideas of how
life was to be lived. The fears of being alone brought Nora to the point
where she was ready to do everything that she could to keep Robbie
apart of her life. This point is proven at the end of the story when Nora?s
suspicions about Robbie and Bernadette bring her to suggesting that
they pay for Bernadette to be placed in a home so that she can
continues her life with Robbie as if undisturbed.
As well, the anxiety she experiences is tested at the party she holds
where her total control is lost by all the disturbing news she is given
about her husband and Bernadette. She is forced to continue with the
party in confusion and despair.
This intertwined relationship between the Knights and Bernadette
illustrate how people are fearful and deceitful to each other even when
living under the same roof. The fabrications of tales and unseen
conditions brought out the anxieties in each of the characters. These
fears are manifested at the initial start of the relationships and continue
to grow if not put to rest. This is seen when the pressure of the unborn
child is released from Bernadette?s conscience when Nora is forced to
corner Bernadette in the kitchen to question her about the suspicions of
her pregnancy.
Bernadette and the Knights are characters that display for us the
results of what may happen when we let our fears control us to the point
that they are seen more as truth instead of obstacles. Fears are great
deterrents and allow us to see things not for what they are. In
conclusion, we must all face the fact that fears and anxieties will forever
be present in our lives, but we must progress to the stage where we can
see them for what they are instead of allowing them to enter our existing
routines.